108 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



July, it is probable they would defer the opening day from 

 the middle of February to the middle of March, or even 

 later. I have noticed that local fishermen on many Welsh 

 streams seem to regard their legitimate fishing as over by 

 the end of May, and judging by the big creels which they are 

 able to obtain in February, March, and April it is little 

 wonder that they leave the rivers and the few remaining 

 trout during the summer months to the anxious attention of 

 their visitors, whose dry fly but too frequently falls on 

 waters from which nearly every trout of takable size has 

 disappeared. It must be evident that with late spawning 

 fish and a very hard January, February, and March, it is 

 a mistake to permit trout fishing to open in February, or 

 indeed until the great majority of fish in each particular 

 river have recovered their condition. Rivers in which the 

 trout spawn late are said to produce the best results, as the 

 alevin emerges into the world under more favourable con- 

 ditions so far as temperature and weather are concerned ; 

 but in each district, whether it be relatively early or relatively 

 late in its spawning, contradictory as it may seem, the early 

 spawners produce the best results. 



